rilfe question

[TeckLancer]

i have a question and its kinda tricky. ok about 25 years ago my uncle met his girlfriend and when she got a divorce around the same time she kept her ex husband rifle. then about 5 years or so my uncle and his girlfriend moved out of the country and gave the rifle to my dad. so now that im old enough i want to see if i can keep the rifle

[Dr Rockso]

All the other stuff is irrelevant...your dad can give you the rifle without going through a FFL (provided you are both CA residents).

[TeckLancer]

even if they have never married? and it belonged to her ex husband?

[ke6guj]

past transfers that may not have happened correctly do not matter. What matters now is that your father owns the rifle and can do an intrafamily transfer directly to you.

Now, if that ex-husband had reported the gun stolen 25 years ago, you could run into an issue if a cop ever ran the numbers, but nothing you can do about that now.

[TeckLancer]

so im good to go.

also what happens to the gun if it was stolen and a cop runs the number?

do i get in trouble?

[ke6guj]

no, you probably won't get into trouble over it. YOu didn't steal it, or know it was stolen.

It'll probably get confiscated and returned to the person who reported it stolen.

[TeckLancer]

cool thanks for the info so im good to go then

thanks

[desmark6]

Tred carefully, there is the possibility of being arrested if you are in possession of a stolen firearm, ignorance of it's stolen status does not protect you

Sure, with that story you would probably be able to beat it in court, but wouldn't it just be cheaper to buy a rifle?

I would be somewhat concerned over the fact she kept the ex-husbands rifle, then gave it to her new man (your dad). I would hope it was part of the court ordered divorce settlement and she didn't just take it to be a pain in the butt

Of course I don't know both sides of the story and all that, I'm just saying, be wary, as we all know California is not a forgiving state when it comes to firearms

Now, after all of that, aren't you going to at least share what kind of rifle you are receiving?

[yzErnie]

Many departments will offer the courtesy of running the gun to see if it is stolen if you call them. Call your local LEA and see if they will do that for you.

[TeckLancer]

ok

its a marlin 336 lever action 30-30

and it is my uncle and his girlfriend that gave it to my dad

[Samuelx]

IF everything is on the up and up, why not contact your uncle's girlfriend and your uncle's girlfriend's ex-husband to verify that it was ok for her to have and hand down to you????

[norcal01]

Tred carefully, there is the possibility of being arrested if you are in possession of a stolen firearm, ignorance of it's stolen status does not protect you

^This. If you are in possession of ANYTHING, firearm or otherwise, and you have reason to believe that its past is somewhat suspect, you could get arrested for being in possession of stolen property per PC 496. If you were to be stopped with it I wouldn't get into the whole history because if an officer wanted to be a d@#k he could argue that you knew it came into your family under shady circumstances and you therefore should have reasonably known that it might be stolen. Definately a good idea to call the local LEA and ask them to run it for you, a lot of them will do it over the phone. On a more realistic note, the odds of it being reported stolen are pretty slim, most people don't keep records of the serial numbers on their guns, even though they should. Without the serial number it can't be entered into the stolen property system. I'd say you have a 99% chance of being good to go but one phone call could get you the remaining 1%.

[Spanky8601]

^This. If you are in possession of ANYTHING, firearm or otherwise, and you have reason to believe that its past is somewhat suspect, you could get arrested for being in possession of stolen property per PC 496. If you were to be stopped with it I wouldn't get into the whole history because if an officer wanted to be a d@#k he could argue that you knew it came into your family under shady circumstances and you therefore should have reasonably known that it might be stolen. Definately a good idea to call the local LEA and ask them to run it for you, a lot of them will do it over the phone. On a more realistic note, the odds of it being reported stolen are pretty slim, most people don't keep records of the serial numbers on their guns, even though they should. Without the serial number it can't be entered into the stolen property system. I'd say you have a 99% chance of being good to go but one phone call could get you the remaining 1%.

+1 on this advise. Better sure than sorry.

[TeckLancer]

ok thanks for the info. i asked my uncles girlfriend and she doesnt remember. she just told me when they got a divorce she kept the rifle. so ill call on monday after work. but i highy dought its stolen